High Court rules additional rent assistance may be available for disabled

The High Court determined that councils can’t include any income that a tenant has from the disability living allowance when calculating any rent help that is provided to them from discretionary housing payments, or DHP. Due to this ruling, it is more than likely that people with a disability will receive additional funds from their local council for their housing costs.

This is a decision that will be felt across the UK. It is now expected that hundreds of local councils will be reviewing exactly how much they pay out DHP to struggling tenants. There will be a close review of how those payments are calculated. The end result may be that more money is provided to families that have a disabled member living in their home or flat.

The High Court made its ruling based on a case brought to it by the Sandwell Council as well as Michael and Jayne Hardy. The tenants claimed that it was illegal for the council to lower their DHP payment because they were disabled. They also claimed that the government was in effect discriminating against them due their disability. The court listed to all sides and arguments in the case.

After this case was heard by the legal authorities, a judgment was made by the High Court. The end result was a determination that council’s can’t consider any income from disability living allowance (DLA) when determining their housing payment. It is now unlawful for a council to consider this for applicants.

The exact judgment from the High Court was as follows. They stated that a local council’s policy of factoring into any payments from DLA as income when assessing an application from a disabled person for discretionary housing payments fails to have due regard to intent and guidance of the programme. It is a failure of the council to assess each application based on merit and is not properly using the council’s discretion for the applicant.

It is estimated that this will lead to thousands of disabled tenants receiving more rental support from their local council. In addition to those increases, there are also an estimated 1,600 tenants that have been completed denied a DHP payment as well, and those cases will also now need to be reviewed.

So this is a major ruling by the authorities. This High Court decision will be felt by hundreds of council as well as the Department for Work and Pensions. Local authorities such as London borough of Kingston upon Thames as well as the Sandwell Council have already started to review their caseloads, and they will now not be counting any income from DLA when calculating DHP awards. Anyone that has a disability should check in with their council for the latest on their DHP payments.